Michigan

The Packard Plant is s a 3,500,000-square-foot factory complex on Detroit's east side built by Albert Kahn in 1903. The factory closed in 1958 and all uses stopped in the late 1990s. Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com)

The Wayne County Treasurer's office said in an email Wednesday afternoon that Hults transferred another $100,000 to the county, bringing his total payment thus far to $200,000. He still owes another $1,803,000.

Hults had a high bid of $2,003,000 in the Wayne County tax foreclosure auction, but was not, initially, the wining bidder. That was Jill Van Dorn, a doctor from suburban Dallas who bid $6,038,000, and then announced that she was going to turn the 3.5 million-square-foot property into a production site for modular homes and offices. She failed to make any payments, and the county cancelled her bid.

The Treasurer's office continues to accommodate Hults, who expressed interest in the the massive and crumbling piece of blight before the first round of the auction began in September.

“We are working with the bidder to consummate the sale and hope for a successful resolution," Wayne County Treasurer Ray Wojtowicz said in a statement. "As always we hope for the best but are prepared should this bidder not perform as required. I hope the public understands that with a transaction as massive as this, patience is sometimes required.”

Deputy Treasurer David Szymanksi said in an email the county is working with a payment timetable for Hults, though it's not immediately clear what Hults' specific payment deadlines are going forward, if he has any.

The Packard Plant failed to draw any bids in the first round of the auction in September, when the starting bid was almost $1 million, or the back taxes owed to the county. In the second round of the auction, the minimum bid per parcel was just $500, which put the minimum bid for the Packard Plant at $21,000 when it first hit the auction block. It ultimately drew 117 bids.

Hults was working with the county on acquiring the 42-parcel piece of land for its back taxes owed before the auction, but ultimately allowed the property to head to the bidding block. He told the Detroit News in July that he wants to build a mixed-use, residential housing and entertainment complex at the crumbling site.

Fernando Palazuelo, a Spanish developer, is the next-highest bidder after Hults, at $2,002,000. Palazuelo has a proven track record of redeveloping abandoned buildings in Spain, Nepal and Lima, Peru.

Vacant and in disrepair for about two decades, the Packard Plant has been an iconic part of Detroit’s “ruin porn," in which tourists and others gawk at and take photos of the city's abandoned and blighted buildings. It was designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1903.

The Packard Motor Car Company manufactured luxury vehicles there until 1958. Other businesses had been using the property of storage until the 1990s, when it was left completely vacant. From there, scrappers moved in and gutted what they could, while graffiti artists and others have since used the property as an urban canvas and playground.

David Muller is the business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.